Crab salad, peanut and lemongrass, coriander emulsion

Dave Watts took inspiration from his time working at Le Manoir to create this superb crab salad with lemongrass recipe. "Raymond (Blanc) and Gary (Jones) spent some formative time in Malaysia and Thailand and were inspired by the vast array of ingredients in the form or aromatics and spices," he explains. "This influenced some of the dishes we created at Le Manoir and then became an integral part of my approach, creating dishes with delicate underlying flavours that offered a different and unique finish."

Once cool, remove the meat from the body, legs, claws and head, keeping the brown and white meat separate. Pick through the meat, checking for any shell and cartilage. Weight out 150g of brown meat and 350g of white meat, and place into a bowl over ice. Add all of the remaining ingredients and mix well. Check for seasoning and keep on ice until required

For the coriander emulsion, blanch the herbs in a pan of salted boiling water, with 20g of salt per litre - the parsley will need approximately 30 seconds, while the remaining herbs will need 20 seconds

Remove the herbs and refresh in iced water until cool. Remove the herbs as soon as they are cool, so that their flavour is not diluted by sitting in the water for too long

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Place all of the ingredients in a high-powered blender and blitz on a high speed until smooth and silky - this should only take 30 seconds or so. Do not blend for too long, or the ingredients will warm up and lose their colour. Check the seasoning and reserve in the fridge until required

For the lemon verbena dressing, warm the oil to 50°C and add the remaining ingredients, except for the lemon juice. Infuse for 30 minutes, then strain through a sieve and add the lemon juice. Check the seasoning and reserve in a dressing bottle until required

Place the liquid in a small pan with the agar agar and bring to the boil, until the agar agar is cooked out and combined. Pour into a suitable container and leave to set, reserving until required

0.4g of agar agar

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To prepare the peanut salad, toast the pine nuts and peanuts in a pan until golden brown and set aside to cool. Crush the lemongrass with the mortar to release the oils, then finely chop and add to a bowl

Microplane the ginger, finely chop the herbs and add to the bowl with the lemongrass. Lightly crush the nuts with the mortar and add to the bowl with the remaining ingredients. Mix well, check the seasoning and store in a container in the fridge until required

Dave Watts may have come to cooking relatively late (at the age of 21), but he has more than made up for his slow start – winning Good Food Guide’s Chef to Watch accolade in 2013 and impressing at the stove of The Star Inn.